


It Takes Time

by GeoffsEightGreatestMistakes



Series: Reporters and a Black Skull Mask [10]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Fake AH Crew, GTA AU, M/M, Major Character Injury, Nightmares, Recovery, Reporter!Jon, mentions of torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-26
Updated: 2017-03-26
Packaged: 2018-10-11 07:05:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10458291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeoffsEightGreatestMistakes/pseuds/GeoffsEightGreatestMistakes
Summary: Jon’s long recovery from his kidnapping. He’s glad that Ryan’s there to help.





	

**Author's Note:**

> You wouldn't believe how much I rewrote this! Only the first section is the only section I never rewrote... (and despite all of the rewrites, I still don't feel 100% comfortable with this.)  
> But that, along with a million other things, is why it's been a year since I wrote the torture fic... I'm so sorry for the wait! (I've gotten very busy in the past year or so!)

_ “Weak,” the voice hissed. A hand curled around his throat, but it felt unreal. The hand was cold, like they weren’t alive. _

_ “You break so easily Jon,” the voice continued, making a harsh shiver run down Jon’s spine. The words are being hissed right into his ear; there’s somebody’s warm breath right on his ear and neck. It’s disgustingly warm, a complete opposite to the hand around his neck. _

_ “I wonder how Ryan can stand you,” the hand around his neck tightens. It slowly starts to cut off his air, making breathing even harder for Jon. Fabric is balled up in his mouth, forcing his jaw open uncomfortably and making breathing difficult. _

_ “He’s so much stronger than you, just one touch and you break.” _

_ The voice starts to get distant, and it feels like the world is slowly spinning. But Jon can’t see anything. He doesn't know if there’s more fabric over his eyes or if the room is just that dark. He doesn’t know, but the world is inky black, an endless abyss.  _

_ “Or maybe that’s how he likes it, having someone he can so easily overpower…” _

_ The voice sounds like it’s going to continue, but Jon can’t hear the rest. It sounds like he’s underwater, and whoever is speaking to him is a thousand miles away. All he can feel is the ice cold hand tight around his neck, cutting off his air supply, and the dizziness. It’s getting worse and worse the tighter the hand gets. _

_ “You’re nothing but a weak plaything.” _

_ That’s the last he hears. _

 

Jon bolts upright- gasping harshly.

He claws at the sheets that have tangled around him while he slept. His mind is a panicked mess, the nightmare frying him and disrupting his sleep for what feels like the millionth time.

Every night has been the same since he was kidnapped. It’s been three weeks and he has yet to have a peaceful night’s sleep. It’s fortunate that he’s been given time off work.

“Sh… Sssh...” Ryan shushes him, pressing a kiss into Jon’s messy hair.

Jon doesn’t realize that he’s woken up Ryan again, and that his fiance has sat up and pulled him close. He’s too out of it.

And it takes a few minutes for Jon’s breathing to calm, and Ryan to stop rocking him. 

“Did you have the dream again?” Ryan murmurs, resting his chin on top of Jon’s head.

The apartment is dark. It’s the middle of the night and they can barely hear the sounds of the city dozens of floors below them.

“Yeah,” Jon shakily nods. His breathing has calmed, but that doesn’t mean that his mind has. He’s still a nervous, scared mess and his hands are shaking violently. 

There’s two dreams he’s been having. The first is what he has just experienced; where a voice is telling him how weak he is while a cold hand is strangling him; the other is where he’s all alone, lying in a puddle of his own blood and filled with pain. The final moments of that dream are the worst; just as his vision begins to fade into dark and his breathing slows, he hears Ryan scream his name and appear in front of him, cheeks covered in tears and looking heartbroken. 

Both dreams are equally terrifying, and Jon has had his sleep plagued by these two dreams for weeks.

“I-I was being strangled…” Jon whispers, stiffly shifting to lean further into Ryan’s arms. His leg is still in a cast, and it makes it very hard to move while laying in bed.

Ryan doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t even nod. He just starts to press kisses into the brunet’s hair once more; dotting the top of his head with light and loving kisses. He knows that they don’t need to talk about the dream. They just need to calm down, and try and sleep for another few hours.

“Do you think you can sleep?” Ryan asks the same question every night. He asks it after about twenty minutes of cuddling close together and slowly rocking to relax.

“I don’t know.” The brunet whispers. His eyes are closed and his head is pressed against Ryan’s chest. 

“Will you try?” Ryan’s voice is soft. “For me?”

“Okay.”

Recovery is a hard process, and both of them know this as Ryan carefully lays Jon back down, and they lay close together; Jon in Ryan’s arms. Recovery is tedious, the same process happens many times before there are any changes.

It’s a shame that physical injuries heal faster than mental.

 

They are lucky that their apartment is all on the same level, unlike Geoff’s where everything is either a step up or down, or maybe down a whole flight of stairs. They are lucky since Jon has been in a wheelchair since the kidnapping five weeks ago.

The full leg cast makes crutches extremely difficult, and it had frustrated Jon more than using a wheelchair when they had tried them about a week and a half ago.

“Hey Ry?” Jon pushes away from the counter so he can peek into the living room. Ryan looks up from his tablet, and over the back of the couch to meet Jon’s eyes.

“I can’t reach the sugar… Can you get it for me?” Jon asks, gesturing to the cabinets behind him. Having most of their food in the cabinets above the counter is very annoying, but Ryan is sweet enough to pull back from work more to stay home with Jon and help him.

“Yeah,” Ryan nods. He sets his tablet down on the couch and then he gets up to head into the kitchen. “Are you making some coffee?”

“Yeah,” Jon nods, and he waits until Ryan’s into the kitchen before he rolls himself over to the kitchen island.

He sits right next to the island, and watches Ryan as the blond takes the bag of sugar from the top shelf of one of the cabinets above the counter and gently pour it into the glass jar where they keep their sugar. He sets the jar down, right in it’s spot next to the coffee maker.

“Anything else?” Ryan asks as he puts the sugar back.

“I think I’m good,” Jon nods a little.

Ryan nods also- turning to lean down and kiss Jon’s forehead. 

“You know to call if you need anything.” 

Jon nods, looking up at Ryan as his fiance smiles a little before turning and leaving the kitchen. Jon didn’t smile back, and he watches Ryan leave before he wheels himself over to the coffee maker. 

Most tasks he used to do just fine have become difficult or impossible. He can’t cook anymore, can’t go for walks, or take a shower. Bathing has become a two-person job now; frustrating Jon to no end. It’s hard to recover when he feels so dependent on Ryan. His nightmares don’t help at all.

Jon fixes himself a cup of coffee, which fortunately doesn’t require much work. They’ve adjusted their apartment, making things easier for Jon. Now the mugs and sugar are right by the coffee maker. He takes his mug and wheels himself over to the kitchen table. 

He’s got work spread out across the table, since he can work on articles from home. His boss has given him easy stuff- filler articles that used to annoy Jon but are now a blessing, keeping him busy.

He’s healing slowly. His cracked ribs are nearly healed, and it’ll be a handful of weeks until the hard plaster cast is switched for a removable cast. They’re getting there slowly but surely.

 

Some days are better; some days are worse. That’s just how things go.

There are days where Jon finds it hard to get out of bed, and there are others where he’s itching to get out of the apartment. There isn’t a pattern, or any clue on what type of day it’ll be, they just have to find out how the day will play out when Jon wakes.

And today is one of those days where things are in the middle. Jon didn’t find it hard to get out of bed, and get dressed, but it found it hard to do something productive- like work from home or do the laundry.

He sat in front of their wall of windows, blankly staring out into the world. He was annoyed, to say the least, because it was such a beautiful spring day outside. T

he weather was starting to warm to the usual Los Santos summer temperature, and after a week of spring thunderstorms, the blue sky was cloudless and bright. It was the perfect day to go out jogging or something else physical. And Jon was annoyed because he was bound to his wheelchair, unable to go to the beach with Ryan and have a picnic, or go jogging through the park.

Instead, he had to stay in his wheelchair, unable to do most of the exercises he normally does. So instead of doing something a little more productive like doing the laundry, writing, or reading one of the many books he bought to give him something to do, he’s sitting in front of the window, completely zoned out.

His eyes aren’t even focused on anything. His vision has been unfocused for a long time, and the world is just a fuzzy picture. They are unmoving, his bright blue eyes. He’s just thinking about all of the things he’s missing while he’s stuck in his wheelchair. 

He’s missing exercise, he’s missing going down to the base with Ryan and hanging out with the guys, he’s missing going into work (for once). He’s missing a lot of things. 

And unfortunately, he’s still got awhile to go. After eight weeks since the kidnapping, his doctor told him he wouldn’t be able to walk without assistance for another two months.

“Hey, Jon,” Ryan’s voice interrupts his thoughts; pulling him out of the depths of his mind. He turns his head just as his vision refocuses, and he meets Ryan’s eyes. His fiance has come up behind him and set a hand on his shoulder.

“Are you okay? You’ve been staring out the window for a while,” Ryan’s eyebrows furrow with worry, and Jon instantly nods.

“Yeah,” He blinks a few times quickly. “I just… I miss a lot of things, ya know.”

“Mm..” Ryan slowly nods.

The blond doesn’t say anything else, he just crouches down to be at Jon’s level so he can kiss Jon sweetly. The kiss lasts for a few seconds, and it effectively pushes the depressing thoughts into the back of Jon’s mind.

When they part, Ryan cracks a small, cute smile. “How about we get some lunch?”

“That sounds good,” Jon nods. “It’s a beautiful day outside…”

That makes Ryan’s eyes light up in the most adorable way- and it means he’s got an idea he knows Jon will love.

“How good does picking up some pizza and going to the park sound? It’ll help you feel better,” he grins, which in turn makes Jon grin. Ryan has been a saint throughout these past few months.

“That sounds amazing Ry.”

 

___________________

 

Recovery is hard, Ryan is well acquainted with this. He’s had his fair share of kidnappings and torturing, but all of that isn’t as bad as what happened to Jon. It’s not even in the same universe.

It’s painful to Ryan to see Jon like this; he’s depressed, in pain, and the nightmares are the icing on the cake. He tries his best to help his fiance, but there is only so much he can do. As much as he would like to, he can’t keep the nightmares at bay or make Jon’s leg heal faster. 

He can only be there when Jon wakes up shaking and in tears, comforting him and helping him wind down. He can help Jon stay busy or distracted, but he can’t help when Jon is having a bad day. 

All he can do is make sure Jon knows that he’ll always be there. There’s only so much he can do.

 

But he is happy for a few things.

He’s happy that Geoff is allowing him time off work, that he can be there for Jon, and that he can see Jon slowly recovering.

Jon’s mood is picking up, motivation to do things too. He wants to bathe more, is eager to get out of the apartment, works more on articles, and he’s constantly asking Ryan to take him down to the base or invite the guys to their place.

The best news that they receive is at the two month mark. The doctor tells them Jon is healing quicker than they thought. He’ll start physical therapy in one month.

 

___________________

 

“Are you sure you want to start working again?” Geoff asks cautiously, the day after the doctor tells them the good news.

“Positive.” Jon nods, absolutely sure with his decision. 

He and Ryan had talked about it thoroughly about if Jon was ready for to go back. The work for the crew was sometimes tedious and stressful, but Jon had honestly felt the most happy when working with them.

“You know you’re not going to dive back in, head first, right?” Geoff raises an eyebrow.

They’re sitting in Geoff’s office, which is a little side room in the warehouse. It’s nicely decorated with a minimalistic look. Geoff sits at his desk, Jon sits on the other side of it, and Ryan is leaning against the wall by the door.

“I know.” Jon glances back at Ryan, who nods a little.

“We talked about this last night.” Ryan speaks up for the first time since this little meeting started. “This is going to be a slow transition back into work.”

Once Jon started physical therapy and started to walk, he’d return to the office, both of his offices. 

Geoff nods, and he pushes himself up from his desk. He steps around his desk, and up to Jon’s side. Gently, he places a hand on Jon’s shoulder.

“It’ll be good to have you back… We’ve been worried about you.” Geoff’s voice takes on a softer tone. Jon bites his lip, and he glances down for a few seconds.

“I’ve missed you guys too.” Jon agrees. “It’ll be nice to be back.”

“Yeah, it will.” Geoff cracks a smile. He pats Jon’s shoulder twice before moving away.

“How about you go set up your desk?” Geoff offers. “Some stuff got moved around… I think Gavin took your monitor after he smashed one of his.”

“You mean Jeremy smashed it,” Ryan jokingly corrects, making Geoff laugh. Jon wasn’t around for that, but he remembers being told about Jeremy axe-kicking Gavin’s desk and breaking a monitor and a couple of other things.

“Yeah,” Geoff laughs, and he waves his hand, signalling for Jon to follow. They leave Geoff’s office, going over towards the bay of desks.

Jon’s happy to be back.

 

The best news that the receive isn’t really news. It’s more like an event.

It’s nearing two and a half months since his kidnapping when he has his first night of no nightmares.

For weeks, he’s woken up in some way, but this is the first night he’s slept through the entire night.

It’s a victory, and they celebrate with breakfast out and the start of planning for the wedding.

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that I have never faced trauma like this, or have seriously studied subjects like this. I am basing this off what I have read, learned about, or have felt with mental illness. So I may be a little off, but I am trying my best.  
> Also the ending is shit but ooooh well I really had no other way to finish this, like most fics I write. Endings are hard man!
> 
> But you check me out on [tumblr](http://geoffs-8-greatest-mistakes.tumblr.com/)!


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